The End
Epilogue
“Oh! What a tangledweb we weave when first we practice to deceive.”
Sir Walter Scott
Julian Condoloro denied his own flesh and blood. It was an act that spun the first weave of an evil spiderweb of betrayal, lies, and deceit so intricate that it would never be totally unraveled.
As Poppy worked hard to create a new company from the ashes of the Condoloro empire, she began to understand how truly brilliant Carma Michelina had been. With the girl’s genius IQ, she could have built a lasting empire for the Condoloro’s that would still be standing.
By throwing away his daughter, Julian lost his own life, and subsequently, everything he’d wanted to leave in legacy. In her pain and fury, Carma truly had dismantled his perfect life, piece by piece, just as she’d vowed she would.
Even more tragic were the other innocent lives that were destroyed in the process of achieving her evil revenge. Adrian Condoloro, Nevil Hanrahan, Sarah Solano, Ace Ducat, and others along the way. Not to mention the lives of the families left behind.
Those who survived didn’t want to talk about it.
As Angus had predicted, once the news was out about Carma, her mob contacts scarpered for their holes, eliminated witnesses, and lawyered up. No one was talking. The FBI finally declared the investigation closed against Carma Michelina after two long years of digging into seedy backgrounds where truth and justice was all relative depending on your reasons for being involved.
Poppy was finally off the press’s radar, which made Angus happy. Like predatory wolves falling upon roadkill, they went after Julian’s reputation and Carma Michelina’s heinous acts of revenge against her father. And of course, Julian’s mother, Edna, whose life was suddenly in the public eye in a way she’d never experienced before.
The auditors hadn’t been able to prove embezzlement from Condoloro Enterprises because the books were all in order and every expenditure accounted for, no matter how far they dug into them. Carma had covered her tracks completely.
Because of the press’s voracious appetite for scandal, Edna finally married Ralston and left her beloved mansion behind. They settled into obscurity near some of Ralston’s family, hoping to finally find some peace in their remaining years.
Poppy sold the mansion and it then became a historic home and museum. The Condoloro legacy would be a line in history stating that the family had once owned a mansion from Chicago’s enlightening gilded age of 19thcentury architecture. And that legacy actually belonged to the building itself.
Angus married his Poppy by the waterfall on a beautiful summer’s evening surrounded by close family and friends. Look deep into your imagination and picture them there amid the backdrop of Scotland’s starry night sky, surrounded by glowing jasmine flowers in the moonlight. Can you smell the heather drifting in off the moors? Hear the gentle gurgle of the moving stream, the rushing sound of the water tripping over rocks on its way down the mountainside, and their simple declarations of love and devotion to one another?
I know you, my readers, may find this story a bit different. In Angus and Poppy’s story, I wanted to get a feel for today’s modern societies. Express how the world is an open book that can be embraced. And get a glimpse into how hard it can be to trust new love and second chances after life has chewed on us for a while.
It doesn’t happen overnight. And it’s different from that first young love where forever lies in front of us, and we envision walking together through it all.
Gone are the days when a young lass or lad, might leave their homeland and follow their love across seas, or to another land where they most likely would never see their immediate family members again. In today’s societies homelands are just stepping stones to the world.
Relationships can also be very complicated with both men and women having careers and dreams that are unique to the individual. Neither one is more important than the other, and finding a balance where both can grow is challenging.
But one thing that doesn’t change is love. It is the constant thread that binds us to each other, and has done so since the beginning of time. Embracing that thread and holding on tight despite what the world throws at us is the real challenge.
Poppy and Angus are now tied to that golden thread and creating their own story on Heaven’s Gate and in Angus’s beloved Scottish home, Thistlewind.
The End
***
